♪ welcome to "defense news." i am vago muradian. moscow has deployed troops,

missiles, and electronic warfare systems to youpossible orders to create anti-access zones from which to project power. we met with the u.s. army europe commander, ben hodges, last week. wasked him if moscow bolstering its position in europe and what russian capabilities worry him the most. >> the ability the russians have move a lot of forces very quickly if the thing that worries me the most about what they can do. the lack of indicators and warning that we have, and their ability to move stuff real fast, that's not a good combination. then you match that with the area and access denial capability they invested in denyingrad, where they can access, what they have invested in the crimea more than 25,000 any ship capability to the black sea, and as you alluded to, they have the ability to create a bubble over

a corner of the mediterranean with their defense systems they have put into syria. this is not healthy. it certaly is not the action of a nation that wants to be a reonsible partner inin the global community and looking f a peaceful settlement of what they have done in ukraine. russia, since the time of the czar is always felt it was entitled to some sort of a sphere that the black sea is russia's, that the caucuses belong to russia, they can influence what happens in the high north. they are acting that out anywhere they can. go: the challenge that you have is, the united states army does not have a lot of forces in europe. everything we are doing is in a nato context. of some ofabout one ththe thihings that you are ande alliance is doing to try to counter the russians and to

counteterbalance tm, and to you need to put a far larger concentrations of force much closer to the russian border in the event that the russians try to do something to immediately be able to mobilize and deter them? >> right after russia possis invasion of the ukraine last march, and their illegal annexation of crimea, the president dispatched paratroopers out of our one 73rd to assure those alleys that the united states is es that the- alli united states is committed. the rest of the alliance has begun to leanorward. you saw that at the summit in september of las year, all 28 , they a all agree that the use of force to change, internationally recognizeded the southern border of a european

country, ukraine, is unacceptable in the 21st ceury. i am seeing a unity in the alliance i have not seen before. the eu is sticking before -- sticking together. that is the important thing, the eu has got to stick together to keep the sctions on russia. that is russia possible if. -- bobjective. what theinto syria, russians were trying to do was distract attention from ukraine. they are still occupying crimea, they are still in the u street ukraine. the alliance also respects the nato russia founding act, which said no nato bases would be established in former warsaw pact -countries. to keep the alliance together, there won't be much support by most nations to put a nato base closer to russia. i think what we're doing w, we have a rotational force, whetr

they'rere in the second regimen, or chasing a force from the states, that gives us an assurance effect. the germans are there, brits are there, other allies are there. i think that is sufficient, if we continue to have exercises -- vago: you have put an urgent requiremenents out for striker with a 30 millimeter gun capability. talk about why you think that weapon system is important for you. assuming the budget cooperates, it is to get it to you. why is that important to you and what are the other discrete litary capabilities you are calling for to be added to the theater? >> given the 30 millimeter gun on a striker, that would enable that striker to destroy bmp, for example, or other russian infantry fighting systems.

the lethal effects on the battlefield that we have seen in somethinghis is completely different from what we have been going against in terms of what the enemy has other than ied's.s. having a 30 millimeter gun would significantly increase the locality of the striker incident. that also is making the e strikr more attractive to some of the allies as a reference system as well. the vehicle itself -- everybody loves it. carries,orth that it the capabilities of strikerr organizations, putting that 30 millimeter gun on it really going to make it very viable for us. other capabilities -- part of our task of making 30,000 feel like 300,000 means we use other peops stuff.

we don't have any bridges that can hold it. short range air defense, have no avengers in europe anymore. only the national guard has short range air defensdee. if i can get national guard to put that some of over there and rotatehrough and use it, that is a gap in our capability also. it cometo forces -- you said you a trying to make 30,000 look like 300,000. by some accounts, yoare doing a darn good job of it, but at the end of the day it is 30,000. if you need more troops, what is the likelihood you will be able to get them? >> obviously the army is committed to provide land power to the combatant commander. from what i've seen here, the way the army has evened in this budget environment and the size of the army decreasing, what i have seen army material command

do to our forceces command create capability to get back in europe, a brigade of equipment, that was a herculean feet and the wo they are still doing to provide us the european locations, to reestablish stuff that used to be there but left two years ago. based on that, i am confident that the army will do everything it can to get troops back over, if there was a requirement, and i think that the e specifics of that requirement is being developed and is maturing rigigt now throh the normal sort of process. the trick is going to be indicators in mornining. when does the clock start? if they ever attack -- this is not inevitable, by the way. what i'm talking about is in terms of deterrents, what we don't want to have happen. if we don't show we can get

people over quick, if f we don't show we are committed he, if we don't keep t the alliance together, that increases the risk and then we are talking about having to counter attack versus deterring. about having to counter attack versus deterring. vago: somehow it felt like everything was moving in slow motion. if i didn't react, things could have gotten messy in a hurry. i mean just got that sweet ride with a great rate from navy federal. i was not about to let anything happen to her. just looking out for my wingman. he's still in training. open to the armed forces, the dod and their families. navy federal credit union.

vago: rush's in syr was the latest surprise from mosco i asd dan hodges whether the west as a deternt should start surprising russia in return. point.'s a great the new generation warfare, what the russians call it -- we call it the hybrid warfare -- is about leading with informati. we are in that right now. ,hey are unleashing information

trying to tear apart the alliance, trying to distract attention from what they're doing in ukraine. ,he process is already underway doing some shaping, if you will. we've had 30 countries, either to cause them to see what they're doing is they are responding to the evil west or the u.s. is being provocative or maybe they are trying to create a situation where ethnic russians are perceived as being mistreated, th is part of the russian narrative. vago: it is a strategic communications campaign. >> it's what they do. they don't do it as an add-on. dois inherent to what they and if we look at the new generationarfare, it leadingally talks about with information. the west has got to figure out how do we compete with that, but not giving into a tit for tat ex change.

they are not burdened with the truth. esident clinton, -- putin, they do not havet to worry abot the free media questioning them or what they say or do. they use information like rockets and arllery. do nt to retain the trust of ourur public, we do have to deal with congressional oversight and free press. and you have 20 nations of nato plus seven partners, eh with different views of what the most imrtant threat is. within that context, how do we defeat the russian narrative? part of that isy shining the light on it, and part of it is telling our own story about what we are doing, reminding people why we are here. are you working on strategies and plans? tost, doing a better job figure out what can be next, but are we also looking at potentiay disruptive things you can do in turn to pause and

give moscow an opportunity if you need to to start dialing up and say, we are going to do this, this, and this to throw him off balance like he's working so hard to throw us off balance? >> i was one of the people that was surprised by their moving to syria. i have been watching him in syria for some time now. but th they were so stressed with everything they were doing that i did not realize they had the c capacity to pick up and me all of thatat into syria. i don't know how long that can last,nd once they start losing people, airaft, which is inevitable, how long they will be able to susin that. but they have more capacity probably than i realized. i just don't know how long they can sustain that. for sure, we are looking for that we areal capable, but in a way that doesn't shut doors, burn bridges. you hear secretary carter strong balance.

that's what he's talking about, strong in terms of the alliance, the assurance to our allies, doing the exercises, working with our allies so the alliance sticks together, and we raise each other's capability by working together, the balance in that there we -- we don't want to shut the d door, that wewe nd russia. back ind needs russia, the global community, because of working against islamic extremism, new transportation over the bill of rights cap, there are so ma areas where we would want to be able toork with them. thatat is what secretary carte'' strong, balanced approach is all about. yes, we are dog that. one of the mar exercises is juncture 13. talk to us abouthe role your troops are playing in that, and is it testing some of the capabilities you n need, for

example, more rapid movement across the alliance? he alliance said we've got to have the readiness action plan, we need to create the very high readiness task force so that the supreme commander o of allies in europe has the capability that he can employ somewhere quickly as a deterrent measure to move it to a place, if w see potenal crisis looming. that requires some political courage by our civilian leaders in the alliance, but they recognize the need to be able to preempt. speed is so important to given optitions to our political leaders. the challenges freedom of movement. president putin can move anywhere insidide of russia. freedom of movement on interior or the west,nato you have all these different countries and even though they

are eu and nato, you still require two weeks diplomatic clearance. the german corps led vjtf has done two exercises. china juncture is going to put out in a bigger venue and we will see what we have learned over this first year. the ability to move troops from gegermany to spain, for example, is an important part of thee juncture. we are using rotational heavy force came from fort storage, georgia, t true their equipmentt mannheim, and then immediately put in a rail and barge to get sail it aroundto spain. are practicing the operational maneuver into something we would have to do. vago: and you need to bng rl battalio back, don't you? > it's ry interesting, when i

was a lieutenant, on any given day yowould see hundreds of u. giggles moving up and down. now even the german rail system does not have the railcars they used to have. vago: you used to be ableo take an enormous amount of equipment and move it someple youu needed as deterrent signal nato commanders have been talkin increasingly, the general talklked about this, lostics infrastructure, that a lot of our natollies have the front end combatt capability. about the elements. the united states army has always been the key backbone for e logistics infrastructure of the alliance. what are some of the thingngs we

doing to bolster the collective logistical capabilities of the alliance? >> you hit on a real important area that needs a lot more work. , units and capabilities are very exnsive. manpower intensive, a lot of stuff. for us, since vietnam, mt of the logigistics has been in a reserve component, fostrategic political reasons, but also that way you can keep th structure in a way that do not cost as much as if i it were all in the active component. most of the other nations do not have a similar component structure -- reserve component structure for logistical capability. they just don't have it. the u.s. army does what no other army can do. our logistical command is very involved. for example, looking r ways to

improve the logisticalal capability, that certainly helps a lot. if you get eququipment on the ground here, but stitill, the to set theu need theater engineers, move the control teams, mechanicstruck drivers, these are all things that we need. until about two years ago, i did not carebout logistics. things always showed up here at -- up. now i understand what it takes to get that logistical capability. itit is an area whehere the u.ss going to continue to have to carry the lion's share of the

vago: the syrian civil war has sparked a migrant crisis that is increasingly occupying ever smaller european military straight - military. i asked benodges --

concern intainly is a that regard. germany, the baltic countries, poland -- almost all of them are doing that. now you're seeing hungarian soldiers having to bemployed working on fence lines, the greek military, of course, and the italian navy all beieing drn to having to deal with this refugee crisis. that is a concern this is a tragic human suation when you have so many millions uprooteted primarily because of the fighting in syria over the last fofour years, assd killing his own people, but also from other reasons around the middle east and africa. is ifgger concern i have they are not assimilated rapidly, youou have thousands of young men sittingng in tents all

winter long, i think they become increasily vulnerable to recruitment by extremist organizations, that is a concern. i w worry about whe they are all going to go. we will pay close a attention. bubut we have veryryood communication with the german government. i think wewe've gotot a sense of where this is t that. we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg. asylum law, young man shows up and getets asylum in n germany,e can brining his entire family over. one could equal six or seven down the road. vago: those guys are not bng as thoroughly vetted as they could d be. >> they are doing it as best they can. the mass numbers -- it's overwhelming. refugees coming out of turkey, syria through turkey, it'five kikilometers to get from turkeyo one of the greek islands.

the greeks are trying g to register t the mall but t it's erwhelming. it'sem all but overwhelming. we've had anecdotal cases of refugees getting on a train, gets inside bavaria and they are ditching off the trarain. their abability to control this and manage it, it is a real challenge. vago: do you think that the russn involvement in russia is likely to make the -- the flow has beenen araging about 4500. this week, 7000. you can ininfer from that significant increasee, directly tie it back to fighting in syria. russia isason why opening operatio in syria is contributing to a problem in its

stability -- instabily not helping us out in any way. vago: let me ask you about the bubbles that russia is creating. what are some e of the capabibilities we can bring that they aren't? this is almost like a te case. b bubbles.ose kinds of have we done enough thinking and are we confident e enough that n the event of a scrape, we will be able to operate within thosee spheres and achieve our military objectctives, which are defensi? knows that we can get into that cycle and play his game and beat him m at it? >> i wou defer to.s. cecentra command, of course. grgreat team there led by generl austan that is working on that exact problem. expert ont be the specific capabilities and how

ththe u.s. or coalition mig act. in general -- how do you deal with the access denial? first of all, the airir force is not big enough either. the air force does not have e al the capability here. if you want to maintain access into areas,s, you've got to have airpower and in order to ensure movement to the seas, u.s. navy has be able to get up in there. the vy is really stretched as well, and i think probably of the three domains in nato,o, the maritime domain is the one that is the weakest in terms of numbers of ships.. this is an area that will have to be addressed and it is going

oftake a combination political, economic -- va: that is something that will demand more investment if we are going to be a strategic harder -- partner. cheaper to deter a war than to have to win one. vago: on this week's "money a personalure," finance expert tells us how to avoid social media scams. >> these days it ses everyone uses social media p a global index said 70% of those online between the ages of 51 and 59 have a facebook account. if that is you, being proactive in securinuryour social media account and your identity i essential, especially if you are rered or active duty mitary. when popar scam uses a photo of someone in uniform and claims they need money because they are deployed. there are lots of scams ou there and while a real service member is not at fault, your

credit and good name could be at risk. what can youou do to avoid being used ia social mia scam? your internet footprint could use privacy and security settings and keep your personal information personal. the more information you post, the easier it is for someone to steal your identity or access your data. do an onli search of your name and check for unofficial photos or social media profiles. if you think you have been hacked or your identity perpetrated, change your privacy settings and password on your accounts, then call your financial institution immediately. social media is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends. just make sure to keep it secure well. vago: thanks for a much we will being detected was not an option. if i was recognized

the whole operation was blown. the element of surprise was imperative. wow. he won't even recognize you. seriously. i don't even recognize myself. and thanks to my cashrewards credit card from navy federal with never-expiring rewards it's gonna be a killer honeymoon. woo! maui!! boom open to the armed forces, the dod and their families. navy federal credit union.

office,nce taking president obama has sought to withdraw u.s. forces from afghanistan. last week he change course and decided to leave additional troops in the country to help stabilize it or it american forces and air power were critical and will remain vital for many more years. it was the right move, underscoring the importance of u.s. leadership, its forces, and unique capabilities in this dangerous world. sadly, washington's budget antics have been costly, leaving a smaller military and damaging readiness. there aren't enough forces to reassure allies and bustly to turn conflict in asia and europe while maintaining necessary presence in the middle east, afghanistan, and elsewhehere. global stabilityepends on u.s.

engagement and forces that are large, capable, and ready. as general hodges said earlier in the show, it is much cheaper to deter a war than to have to win one. they stood watching. i am vago muradian. see you next week. [musicic] >> dr. charles stanley: if you're genuinely saved, you will never be happy or satisfied living in sin. you will not. yocannot, you know why? because you have ahole different nature. you have the spirit of god within you, convicting you of sin. many people will tell you that they're saved. they're not sasaved. they believe about him, but they're not truly believed in